Software Craftsman, The: Professionalism, Pragmatism, Pride (Robert C. Martin Series)

by Sandro Mancuso

The Ivory-Tower Architect: Besides the Irrational, this is the worst type of skeptic for a software craftsman to deal with. They think they know it all. They are smarter than any developer. They think they are at the top of the food chain. Ivory-Tower Architects usually haven’t written a single line of production code for years (useless proofs of concept that have no resemblance with reality do not count). They like to say they are responsible for every technical decision, but very rarely are they held accountable for any of them. If things go well, they get the credit; if not, they blame the development team that didn’t follow their clear instructions. If it is not their idea, it’s probably not a good one. Since they don’t write code, they feel the constant need to prove why they are needed. Their favorite pastime is to browse the Internet looking for new acronyms. They read the marketing material of expensive technologies, create nice PowerPoint presentations, ask junior developers to write prototypes, and convince managers that developers should follow whatever they recommend. They believe that their job is to define the technology stack for projects even before the business and development team agree on what really needs to be done.